This World of Water
by Mishalla
Summary: She heard three loud shots. Maybe he missed, maybe he couldn't aim. But as she felt the searing pain in three different places in her stomach, she knew he had not missed. Ziva is injured because of her looks, yet the criminals didn't stop at shooting her, they need to finish the job.
1. This World of Water

**Thank you to everyone that has made my inbox crazy over the last couple of days. You are truly amazing. I wanted to re-write this; essentially it will still be the same story but just better told. Thank you again, you are all beautiful people. Lots of Love, KnightOwl**

Ziva was impatient; she knew that the more time they spent discussing on how to take the dirt bag down meant the dirt bag had more time to get away. She sighed internally, she just wanted to go and get Dana back.

So far there were three little girls gone, they were all the same age and could be sisters, beautiful dark brown hair that went into crazy curls around their face, dark brown eyes, tanned skin. They were all just five years old and so was Dana. They needed to get Dana back; she was too young, too little. This whole case had made Ziva feel uncomfortable, because all of those little girls looked exactly like her when she was younger. If you took a photo of Ziva when she was five and threw it in the mix, she could be their sisters as well. Ziva shuddered at the thought of a man trying to kill her when she was that age. She might have got away; she learnt combat at a very early age.

Gibbs studied Ziva, she wasn't paying attention. He knew that this case would get to her, but he also knew that she could handle herself. Gibbs straightened up and Ziva's eyes fell back upon him.

"Alright, is everyone clear on what we are going to do?"

There was a loud yet hushed chorus of "Yes Boss."

They all drew their weapons and started slowly in opposite directions. They were looking for signs of a man trying to force a little girl to come with him. About 200 meters ahead Ziva saw a low tree branch broken; it had threads of blue wool tangled on it.

"Gibbs." She whispered loud enough so he could hear, "What was Dana wearing?"

"White leggings with a white long sleeved top and a blue woolen jumper. Why?"

"Broken tree with blue wool and footprints about her size that rapidly vanish."

"He picked her up."

"I have visual of a man dragging Dana behind him."

"Copy. Wait for back-up before pursuing the suspect."

"Gibbs, there's no time, he's strangling her."

Ziva ran at the man her eyes on a constant check for any other suspects. She heard a loud crunch behind her and almost fell into a deep murky pond. She kept her balance and was hit in the stomach with something and her gun was thrown out of her hand. Ziva fell for what seemed like a long time, she couldn't breathe. She felt wood under her hands and looked up; she was on a deck outside a house. She didn't remember running onto this.

"Get up." The first man that was holding a terrified Dana yelled at her. Ziva tried to move but couldn't.

"Get up!" He screamed at her and the other man lunged forward and pulled her up by her braid.

Ziva couldn't breathe. The first man looked her over.

"Mm, all grown up. I think I'll prefer to kill you rather than this little girl here."

"Dana"

"What was that?" the man asked Ziva. She tried to suck in as much breathe as she could.

"Dana." Ziva said more loudly this time

"I'll tell you what 'Special Agent Ziva David'" He read it off her ID badge that also fell to the floor and snickered and said her name wrong. "I don't really care what her name is."

"Why then?" The man smiled at her and spoke rapidly to his partner.

"Because no one deserves to be that beautiful and neither do you. Goodbye Special Agent David."

He pulled her gun up and faced her. She had heard the sound before, more than a thousand times before. This was different, her gun sounded different. It was a louder sound and yet it was also softer and after all the times that she had shot the gun, she suddenly realized; it sounded different because she wasn't firing the weapon, she was receiving the bullets. She heard someone scream, a little girl scream. She thought that it was her, but how could it be her?

She heard three loud shots. Maybe he missed, maybe he couldn't aim. But as she felt the searing pain in three different places in her stomach, she knew he had not missed. She gasped, the pain was unbearable. She was falling, but nothing was there to break her fall. There was nothing behind her, except water.

She crashed down into the water and it made the pain unbearable, it seared at her and she thought she was falling apart. She knew she had to get out of the water, she need oxygen, to breathe again. There was a bright white light and Ziva stopped fighting. Her body sank_. "Mum?"_ she thought, for the light had to be her mum. The cold was eating away at her, tearing apart her stomach. _"This is a pretty_ _stupid dream; it feels so real, the cold, the pain, the sound." _She pinched herself to wake up because the pain was unbearable but she wouldn't awaken. The Ziva in bed would not wake up. Ziva tried to fight, to attack the water, it got her nowhere. Then she heard this fantastic sound in the pond.

…

"Where is she?" Gibbs was calmly talking to the man but if he didn't answer he was going to start punching him.

"You'll never find her. I'm just sorry I didn't get to shoot the little one as well." He looked over to Dana who was rugged up and talking to McGee.

"Get him out of here." Baltimore cops were taking the two men away and Gibbs approached the little girl.

"Hi, I'm Gibbs. I know you have been through a lot tonight but I just wanted to ask you some things. Can you do that for me?"

Dana nodded calmly

"I thought he was going to hurt me. I'm sorry." She started crying.

"Hey. Hey. It's ok. You're safe now." Dana looked at him and wiped her eyes.

"Did you see someone else here? She would have looked exactly like you but older"

Dana nodded and pointed to the pond. Tony looked at her and shined his torch at the pond. Tim joined him. Neither of them could see anything

"It's too murky, boss." Tony yelled out, you could hear the distress in his voice

"Hey Dana, you were very brave tonight can you just tell me what he did to her?"

Dana nodded again and for a while she didn't say anything. Gibbs wanted to say something to get her talking; they were running out of time.

"He pointed that thing at her and it made three big noises and she fell over the rails and straight into the pond."

"Thank you."

Gibbs could see blood, obviously from Ziva. Someone from Baltimore called some divers but they were going to be too late. At the same time Tony and Gibbs jumped into the pond. Neither could see and they didn't have goggles either. But somehow they managed to find her. Tony started to bring her up, but she was too heavy with all the water so Gibbs helped him. When they brought her up and they laid her down flat. Tony started checking for a pulse, there wasn't one.

"I know you can do this David, stay with us, breathe."

They rolled Ziva on her side so she could get any water out. And then rolled her flat on her back and started doing CPR.

"C'mon Ziva. Stay with us! Will someone call an Ambulance?"

Suddenly a small gurgle, or was it a groan told Tony that she was breathing. He checked her pulse again and she was breathing but she was unconscious.

McGee was talking very softly into his radio. Tony didn't leave her side in the four minutes it took for the ambulance to get here. It seemed like an eternity until they were bumping their way across an old access road that went behind the pond.

Two Ambulance officers got out and ran straight for Ziva. Whilst they worked they asked Gibbs a set of steady questions.

"29 year old female spent about 2 minutes in the water, three gunshot wounds to the abdomen, she wasn't breathing before but after CPR she came around but is still unconscious"

Tony heard vacant words that meant little to no meaning to him.

"She's gone into reflex tachycardia…It seems she has ballistic trauma just left to her heart….She's experienced cold shock…we'll have to drain that fluid immediately...Bethesda"

Bethesda, Tony knew that word, it was a hospital. All too soon, the ambulance officers where wheeling her into the ambulance. Tony couldn't think. A rough voice snapped him from this state to the world again.

"Are you coming DiNozzo?"

"Yes Boss!"

…**.**

The noise wouldn't stop, it got louder and louder. She wanted it to stop, it was hurting her ears. She felt something grab onto her she panicked and tried to kick out at this mysterious thing but her body wouldn't allow her to. The thing was hurting her arm, it was tearing it off. Then something else grabbed her other arm, they were pulling. Was she coming up? She needed to breathe desperately, she needed oxygen or she would drown. Did the things that grabbed onto her know that? She could see the water becoming lighter and lighter. She was coming to the surface.

She could breathe again, but it hurt, everywhere hurt. Her lungs were stinging, her stomach was on fire. There was a darkness she could feel herself slipping away. It was too painful, it was too much.

"I know you can do this David, stay with us, breathe."

Ziva knew that voice; she loved the person that the voice belonged to. But she couldn't figure out who the person was. _I am _breathing she tried to say but nothing came out and she realized that she wasn't. She tried to fight. She wanted to come back. She tried fighting the darkness, it was too strong and she was too weak. She kept fighting; she didn't want to leave this world yet. Gibbs! That was the person.

"C'mon Ziva. Stay with us! Will someone call an Ambulance?"

Was that Tony? She needed to talk to Tony again. _I'm trying Tony, I'm trying. _She couldn't get her mouth to say those words, she couldn't get her lungs to function, and she couldn't breathe. _Tony._ She kept trying to say his name but all that came out was a gurgle. She lost the darkness.


	2. Beautiful Disaster

_"Tony." _

_He couldn't see her. The pond was too dark, too murky. He didn't know where she was. The light had little to no help. They followed the blood trail from the porch. There was so much blood, it was her blood. How could someone so little survive after losing that much blood? How could someone survive after being shot three times, losing that much blood and falling in the water? The water. _

_ "Tony."_

_He pulled her up from the water, her skin was a faint blue, her lips and nose were a darker blue. She was cold, if her body could work, she would be shivering all over. She wasn't breathing. Why didn't anyone care that she wasn't breathing. Her skin was ice; he thought his hand would stick to her skin the way that skin would stick to ice. Each compression, each one hurting her, crushing her ribs, giving her bruises that would hurt tomorrow._

_"Tony. Anthony DiNozzo?"_

_Her eyes looked up at his; they looked like they were glazed over. Her beautiful brown eyes, the eyes the colour of warmth and sunshine, but determinacy and loyalty. Her heart beating so fast and low, her fingers curled up with the pain. "Sh." He murmured "You don't need to be afraid." For the first time her eyes looked at him with pain, never has he seen that before. Ziva was in pain. _

_"DiNozzo!"_

_There was an amazing sound and a loud ouch. It had worked. Tony was alive again. _

_"Boss. I'm sorry. I just can't get that image out of my head. I thought I was going to lose her."_

_"We all thought that DiNozzo." And Gibbs went off to his own chair with a loud humph sending dust and other particles all over the tiny room. _

_For the first time, he surveyed the room that he was in. He didn't remember how he got here or how he had managed to actually sit down._

_Abby was sitting in a chair next to him. She was openly crying. She must have been sleeping on him for a while because he had marks on his shirt from her tears. How long had it been since they first got here? What was happening to Ziva?_

_"Ziva?"_

_That was all Tony needed to say, they had obviously witnessed that he was out for a while. They all shook their heads. They didn't know, nobody knew._

_"Family of Ziva David?" a man with dark brown hair with grey flecks at his temples dressed in a lab coat called for them and he said David right. They all stood up so quickly and headed over towards the man. He indicated them towards a conference room. _

_"How is she?_

_"She's still alive, right?"_

_"She must be in so much pain."_

_"Oh my god, poor Ziva."_

_"Hey! Let the man speak."_

_Gibbs looked intently at the doctor who sighed._

_"Hi I'm Dr. Weston."_

_He obviously struggled for a way to say this without being killed by federal agents. _

_If Miss David had just been injured by the three gunshot wounds to the abdomen I would be here telling you that she will wake up in an hour and that you can see her. But that's not the problem."_

_Gibbs closed his eyes and looked down, preparing for the worst. Tim's heart skipped a couple of beats and his heart ached for Ziva to be ok. Abby had tears in her eyes, Ziva had to survive or Abby wouldn't. And Tony looked like he was about to die right there from the pain of not having Ziva._

_Dr. Weston looked at all four of them and realized he had said the wrong thing._

_"Ziva has survived, so far but I need to seriously talk with you about all of her injuries."_

_The whole room sighed in relief._

_"Does anyone know what cold shock is?"_

_The three federal agents shook their heads whilst Abby nodded. The other three looked at her._

_"It's when a person suddenly enters the water that is so cold that they gasp and water goes into their lungs." _

_"Precisely, whilst we have drained the fluid there can be serious health risks associated with cold shock, such as pneumonia. Ziva also has tachycardia; her heart rate is much faster than we would like it to be. She also has mild hypothermia; we think she was in the water for longer than two minutes."_

_"What other symptoms are associated with her hypothermia?"_

_It was Tim who asked, he had a relatively good understanding of medical terms._

_"Right now we are worried about her severe drop in blood pressure and her muscles. We are currently re-warming. Now I have to tell you something else. During surgery, Miss David's heart stopped and she stopped breathing due to her hypothermia."_

_Dr. Weston scanned the room for the reactions and he continued._

_"We had to give Ziva two doses of epinephrine and we had to shock her heart with the defibrillator. We are also worried about brain damage. How long was she unconscious for?"_

_"She was unconscious when we pulled her out of the water. She wasn't moving the whole time we were pulling her up. She just felt like de…" _

_Tony couldn't finish the sentence __dead weight __he thought __she felt like dead weight. _

_Dr Weston nodded. "You say she was in the water for two minutes?"_

_"It was a rough estimate. But that was roughly how long we were there, trying to figure out where she'd gone; she may have been in there for longer when we weren't there. We all ran in that direction once we heard the shots."_

_It was Gibbs who answered, he still had a straight face on and didn't look like he was about to crack like his younger agents and forensic specialist did. _

_"I'm sorry to put all this on you; you all must have had a terrible day."_

_Everyone looked at each other, no one cared about 'them' right now, and they only wanted them to care about Ziva. _

_"Hey Doc, can we see her?"_

_"Yes, of course you can but she still is unconscious and will be until at least tomorrow. I'll show you to her room." _

_…**.**_

_She could feel sheets underneath her. Was she on a bed? The bumpy road was hurting her back. What had just happened, had she been shot? She groaned, or at least, tried to groan. Her first were clenched up as the bumps beneath her got rougher. She heard muffled words but the voice wasn't familiar. _

_"Can you hear me?"_

_Said the voice, it was faint and muffled, a woman's voice. Ziva tried but couldn't answer her. Another voice, rougher and familiar but not in a good way, it was distant as though it was driving. She tried to get up to escape, she was thrashing but her muscles wouldn't allow it. _

_"She's panicking, I'm going to administer so…"_

_Ziva couldn't hear the rest, she panicked what was happening, and she wouldn't calm down. He was here, he was here. But that was impossible. He was dead. And yet Ziva seemed sure that it was Saleem's voice. She told herself again that he was dead. She was in the room when it happened. She couldn't go there. __Don't go there, no don't. Stay; stay here on the bed where it's nice and comfortable. Don't go back there. Stay here.__ It was too late, her eyes rolled back and she was there._

_"Miss David."_

_Although Ziva couldn't see, she could hear the door open and close, they were different sounds. She could also hear footprints, more than one set. Her arms were tied behind her to the chair as well so she couldn't move them. Her legs were also bound to the chair. They learnt to do that after one nasty incident when she kicked a man's shin who tried to torture her. She was badly hurt after that, they set after her with some hard object. _

_She opened her eyes there were bright lights along a corridor, she was in a larger bed and some people were pushing that bed really fast. It was fun, until her eyes rolled back again._

_Saleem was alone with Ziva now after sending the other men out. He came closer to her. She grimaced under her blindfold. Saleem put something into her mouth so she couldn't scream. Then someone hurriedly knocked on the door. Although they spoke in another language, Ziva could understand them._

_"What is it Ulmann?"_

_"Some agents of her kind stumbled across us. What do you want me to do?"_

_"Set them up in another room I would like to interrogate them."_

_Ziva's heart went crazy she thought that Mossad was here to rescue her. It couldn't be NCIS, they no longer trusted her. How wrong she was._

_Saleem turned back to Ziva and came close enough to whisper in her ear._

_"Just because they are here does not mean that you are safe. I will probably come back to tell you that I have killed them and I might tell them that I killed you. You never know what I will do."_

_Ziva wanted to scream, her heart was pleading with her. She couldn't continue with the screaming and the nightmares and waking up in deep sweats. She wanted to cry but she could never cry. She heard murmuring, familiar voices, voices that she loved. She listened in for a moment. _

_"Oh, the last patient forgot some of her things, she was into poetry. Do you want me to get rid of them for you?"_

_"No, Ziva likes Poetry. She would like it if I read to her for a bit."_

_Tony pulled open the book at a random page and begun to read._

_"Drowning. My lungs are full of water, _

_my head is filled with haze. _

_Hours and minutes, they get longer. _

_Until it turns into days."_

_Tony suddenly realized what he was reading and slammed the book shut. _

_"Maybe read something else Tony. But I thought I saw her lips pull up at the sides. She loves Dylan Thomas, particularly 'And Death Shall have no Dominion'. She loves it."_

_Gibbs smiled it was very fitting seeing the circumstances. Tony went to the index and found the poem and the page number and started reading it out loud._

_"And death shall have no dominion_

_Dead men naked they shall be one_

_With the man in the wind and the west moon;_

_When their bones and picked clean and the clean bones gone,_

_They shall have stars at elbow and foot;_

_Though they go mad they shall be sane,_

_Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again;_

_Though lovers be lost love shall not;_

_And death shall have no dominion."_

_Tony was interrupted by Gibbs' cell phone as it chimed. Gibbs walked out of the room and answered it._

_"Director?"_

_"Gibbs, I just called Eli David to let him know what happened to Ziva."_

_Gibbs took a sharp breathe in._

_"What did he say?"_

_"He was furious."_

_"At Ziva? Or at me?"_

_"At you and at Ziva. He should be arriving tomorrow around fourteen-hundred with Malachai and Liat as security."_

_"Damn."_

_"I know."_

_"She might not even be awake by then."_

_"How is Agent David?"_

_"Icy water in her lungs, hypothermia, maybe getting pneumonia and worried about possible brain damage and loss of muscle function. But we will know more about that later when she wakes up."_

_"Certainly, you and the team take care."_

_"The same to you Leon."_

_They hung up and Gibbs swore under his breath. Leon knew that Eli would not handle his daughter getting injured well. He had to explain this to Tony, Tim and Abby or they'd be angry._

_Gibbs walked back in the tiny room to see all faces looking up at his, apart from Ziva who was still unconscious. _

_"Director Vance called Eli David."_

_They were angry and Gibbs couldn't hear what each person had to say._

_"Hey. Hey. HEY! Calm down. Vance said that Eli was angry at Ziva for getting hurt."_

_"It's not her fault she was shot by this maniac. Gibbs. That's it!"_

_Gibbs looked at Tony puzzled._

_"Remember how you asked Ziva to go pretty much everywhere when we interviewed people?"_

_"Yeah, because she looked like the little girls."_

_"I am sure we interviewed those two men and then they set that plot up. Can I see a photo of them?"_

_He asked towards Abby and McGee. Abby took out her phone and showed him the pictures of the two men._

_"Yes. We did interview them, they seemed creepy, and we were going to do a stake-out. That night was when we got wind of Dana in the woods. They set this up Gibbs, I am sure of it. _

_The morning air was chilly to Ziva, especially since it was November; she always got cold in November. She climbed into the car and flashed a smile at Tony. He flashed her one back. They were going to a factory where all of the fathers of all the missing girls had acquaintances with. They entered the factory to start interviewing all of the employees. They knew that there was a good chance that the murderer would be in this factory. Two particular interviews stood out in both Ziva's and Tony's minds. The first was a man named David Henry and the second named Lewis Henry, they were half-brothers. They interviewed David Henry first._

_"Mr. Henry, do you have any knowledge about the murders of these three girls?" _

_Ziva asked showing him photos of the girls. The man shrugged and then nodded._

_"Yes, I've seen them on the news."_

_"We're not talking about on the news Mr. Henry; we are talking about if you knew them personally."_

_Tony asked him this time and the man just shrugged again and then he pointed to the photo of the first victim._

_"She's the daughter of a man who works here, her name's Sally."_

_"Yes, she was found over a month ago in the woods."_

_"She's really pretty. She looks a lot like you. Too pretty. Too pretty to live."_

_Ziva gasped. The demeanor of the man suddenly changed, he looked directly at Ziva and smiled. She shuddered, the man was truly creepy. _

_They then went on to the man's half-brother_

_"Name?"_

_"Lewis Henry."_

_"Any relation to David Henry?"_

_"Half-brothers."_

_"Do you know about the murders of the three little girls in this area?"_

_"Yep."_

_"And this little girl here just went missing."_

_Ziva indicated a photo of Dana._

_"Yep."_

_"__How do you know about these murders Mr. Henry?"_

_"News, I suppose."_

_"You suppose. How about a direct answer Mr. Henry."_

_Mr. Henry looked up behind Ziva's shoulder, Ziva looked too to see the other Mr. Henry make some signals. He made direct contact with her eyes and it creeped her out. She then leant into Tony._

_"We need to take this somewhere more private."_

_He nodded and directed Mr. Henry to a spare office that the factory said they could use. When they were all seated again and the blinds had been drawn she asked him again._

_"What do you know about the three deceased girls and the fourth missing one?"_

_"They are all too pretty, it' not nice to be too pretty. Like you, you look a lot like them. You're too pretty too. Too rich and powerful. A women shouldn't be in power, that's the men's job."_

_"So you decided to kill these girls because they were too 'pretty'."_

_"It's not right, being too pretty, it unbalances the world. The world was going crazy; it was spinning out of control. It wouldn't stop unless the balance was restored."_

_"Who told you this Mr. Henry?"_

_"No one, it's just how it is. Like you."_

_The man looked up at Ziva_

_"You have to die; you are too pretty, too strong, too powerful. Men must kill you so they can balance the world again."_

_He then turned to Tony_

_"You need to kill her before the sun rises again or everything will be spun out of control. Kill her. Kill her now."_

_Mr. Henry was going wild, trying to demonstrate that Ziva needed to die. Tony blocked her from him._

_"I'll call Gibbs."_

_When Tony and Ziva and Mr. Henry got back to NCIS headquarters, Mr. Henry's lawyer met them._

_"Hi, I'm Mr. Henry's lawyer."_

_"How did you even know?"_

_"His brother called me. This is a court order, ordering you to release Mr. Henry as he is mentally ill."_

_"Wait, he's just getting off, he told us that these girls were 'too pretty and that they needed to die'. He also told me that I should kill my partner because she is also too pretty."_

_"But he didn't actually confess to the murders did he? That's what I thought. Thank you and good bye."_

_Tony and Ziva looked at each other and went up to tell boss. _

_Tony looked at Gibbs, they were both shocked at this new found information._

_"They needed to kill her before the sun rose again. So they tried to kill her. It was a trap. I should have realized."_

_"Yes, but if we hadn't gone, Dana would've been killed."_

_Tony nodded but still didn't like the idea of it. Gibbs looked at his watch surprised. _

_"It's zero-two-thirty. Right I want everyone to go home. Ziva will not wake up tonight but we will get here tomorrow to make sure that she doesn't wake up alone."_

_They all mumbled yes and they trooped out. But Tony stayed for a bit with Gibbs and they both eventually stayed the night. Gibbs stayed in the cot that a reluctant nurse gave and Tony stretched out on the recliner. They woke to the sounds of loud beeping. When they saw what was happening they both jumped awake. Ziva was coughing and spluttering and almost gagging. They were trying to take the intubation tube out but Ziva was coughing too much._

_"Ziva, slow and deep breathes. Calm down and I can take the tube out. Do you want the tube out?"_

_Ziva nodded and Gibbs thought __what a bloody stupid question to ask.__ Ziva had calmed down enough so they could pull the tube out. They then put an oxygen mask on her face to help her breathe. Just then Abby walked in with McGee right behind her. She gasped at the sight in front of her. Ziva' breathing slowed and she was all right again. _

_"Hi." Ziva said rasping._

_"Hi." Abby said and everyone else was crowded around her bed. The doctors and nurses left the room smiling. _

_"Hey, how are you?"_

_She blinked once to mean 'ok'._

_"Do you want some ice chips"_

_Ziva blinked again but this time to mean 'yes'._

_Abby went to the nurses' station to ask for some but they gave her some juice instead. Ziva loved the juice and drank it slowly over an hour and then she asked for some more. _

_"Ziva? Do you remember David Henry and Lewis Henry?"_

_Ziva nodded, she didn't even need a picture._

_"They're the ones that shot me."_

_"Can you tell me about them when this happened?"_

_"I saw Dana. The man stopped right in front of me so he knew that I could see that he was strangling her. I ran after him and nearly tripped into the pond, I turned and the other one hit me with a plank of wood. I couldn't breathe, I was gasping. He dragged me. I couldn't fight him, he was too strong. They wanted me to get up once we were on the deck. The bigger brother grabbed my hair and forced me up. He told me that he was killing the girls because no one deserves to be that beautiful and neither do I. Then he shot me and I fell into the water and it was cold."_

_"Ziva, you could have taken that man right there."_

_They all looked up to see who it was, Eli David, he had been listening to Ziva's whole explanation._

_"Aba." Ziva looked excited to see him. _

_"I need time alone with my daughter if you don't mind."_

_They all looked at Ziva who simply nodded._

_"Yell if you need anything." Gibbs said to Ziva before kissing her forehead. Eli slammed the door shut behind him. _

_They could just hear muffled sounds and what sounded like Ziva crying, he was scolding her for getting hurt, then both their voices were raised._

_"You're weak Ziva. That is what America has made you, weak. If you were still in my country you would have gotten both the men. You have never been good at hiding what you feel and how you hurt. That is not how a Mossad Agent does things."_

_"Get out! Get out of here! I don't want to see you today! OUT!"_

_"I have a plane to catch later today anyway. Goodbye my daughter."_

_Eli just walked straight past Gibbs and Liat and Malachai followed. They went into the room silently to find a crying Ziva. _

_"Hey Ziv, you ok?"_

_"No, I don't want you to see me like this."_

_"Hey, we love you and we don't care if you cry, understood?"_

_Ziva nodded, but turned away ashamed._

_"Hey Ziva. We would like to ask you about some of these injuries that you have sustained recently in the last two years if you don't mind."_

_It was a doctor that no one had seen before. She smiled upon all of them._


	3. In Love and Death

**Sorry for the no update in months. I'm horrible. I had exams and a lot of work that I needed to hand up. This year is a busy one for me and may mean that school work may trump updating stories. It sucks. I know. **

"Bastard. Absolutely two faced bastard. I can't believe he said those things to her." Tony said to himself in a quiet whisper so as to not wake anyone else up and more importantly to not wake Ziva up.

The hospital was quiet, yet it was bright. He couldn't understand how people slept here, it was noisy and bright and nurses came in to check IV lines every half an hour. Yet Ziva was fast asleep, her face cast in shadows. Today had been a rough day. Her father had come to talk to her, that didn't go well and these doctors kept asking how she sustained certain injuries though it was clear by their voices that they knew. Why did they have to ask her if they already knew?

Tony looked at his phone to see the time, 3:45am. He should at least try to get some sleep. Tony arched his back over the sharp bars of wood underneath the thin mattress that was his cot for as long as Ziva needed him here. His head softly hit the pillow and he tried to get some sleep. His head wouldn't let him though; it was too busy thinking about how the day played out and how they could have prevented Ziva's injury. It had been a long couple of days, or was it one day, whatever the amount of time, it was long. Tony yawned and tried to imagine a world where Ziva wasn't injured, where she was fine and simply joking around with him like she always did.

He knew Ziva would be alright again, she had survived worse, although no one really knew what she went through in Somalia. She never talked about it; it obviously pained her to talk about it. Tony yawned sleepily and rubbed him eyes that were stinging from having absolutely no sleep. Once he started imagining a Ziva that was healthy and happy, he fell asleep quickly.

In Tony's dream, someone was calling his name. Saying it louder and louder but he ignored it because Ziva had to be saved. He saw Gibbs calling his name, ordering him to come back. He turned behind him and saw Ziva. She was also screaming his name, pleading for him to come to her. Two men were dragging her away. He couldn't see them. Ziva was crying and screaming for him to come and help her. He couldn't move. He turned his head between an angry Gibbs and a scared Ziva. He chose Ziva but his legs wouldn't move. He tried and tried to make them move. Suddenly, one of the men pulled out a gun. He fired at Ziva, rapid shots. He couldn't tell how many shots were fired or how many hit Ziva. But, he knew that the way Ziva looked at him that something had hit her hard in the stomach. She lost her balance and toppled over the balcony into the icy river water below. Tony forced his legs to move, slowly, very slowly, he could move again. He forced himself to the water's edge and jumped in. He couldn't move again. He sank to the bottom, desperately fighting for oxygen. He knew Ziva was doing the same. He couldn't see her through the murky water and that's when he awoke panting.

"Geez Tony. It looks like you've seen a ghost." Ziva said to him. She was awake and smiling at him a bowl of some gooey liquid in a bowl in front of her. Apart from the fact that when she moved, she winced, you could hardly tell she was injured at all.

"Hey Zi. Just having a nightmare over here." He looked up and grinned at her. She looked happy enough. He knew that she would absolutely hate being at the hospital right now.

"What was it about?" Ziva asked Tony with curiosity.

"What was what about?"

"Your dream Tony."

"Oh right. Um. I can't really remember it to be honest. It's all just a blur. What's the time?"

"About 8:00am said the doctor that came in just before you awoke."

"Ok. Great, Gibbs will be here any minute then." Tony said taking his phone out and looking at the time.

"Any minute. Look with your eyes DiNozzo. I'm here now. Abby said that she would come later, she and Tim are doing some computer thing. How you doing Ziver?"

"Um. I'm good. It doesn't hurt now." Ziva said, although neither Gibbs nor Tony believed her mainly due to the fact that she kept wincing when she was breathing. Something that wasn't that hard to notice. Gibbs rolled his eyes at her, yet they had something in them, concern, love, worry. Gibbs cared about Ziva, there was no doubt about it. He considered her to be a daughter and she considered him to be a father.

"Stop lying Ziver. We can see you wincing. You want me to call the doctors and get you some more medication for that pain?"

"No. I am fine. It hurts a little but I do not need medication."

"Zi, you don't have to be a hero in front of us. If you're hurting, you need to tell us and we will do whatever we can to make you feel better. You have a few servants for some time until you're better." Tony told her. He knew that she did not like the medication but it needed to be done if she was in pain. She would never forgive him if he forcibly made the doctors give it to her. He decided to try and bait her to get her to admit that she needed pain relief. "You want to watch TV?"

"I don't know what's on!"

"The Olympics start today. Watch the Opening Ceremony. It'll make you feel better."

They turned on the TV and although the Olympics had not yet started there was a lot of information of what medals America could win and other competitors. It was quite interesting but all Ziva wanted to do was curl under her doona on her bed and read a good book. Although, she was exhausted from all the doctors coming and going last night to check on all the IV's coming from her feeding her vital nutrients, but not pain relief, she would not allow it.

Soon, Ziva was so exhausted that she just fell asleep. Her dreams took her back to Somalia.

_Lying on the cold cement floor, she could feel blood on her stomach, yet she couldn't see anything. Her eyes were shut tight from all the abuse. She felt at her stomach and clutched it, hard. She never wanted to be caught alive, ever. If she was sent on a mission like this, she always had death in her heart. She had not meant to survive fighting her way to Saleem. It all seemed pointless now. A single tear slipped out of Ziva's eyes as she started to regret staying in Israel. She wanted Gibbs. He would never have sent her on this suicide mission and he wouldn't have left her in the dessert to rot. She thought of Tony and although she was still mad at him, she also missed him. She thought of all their fun times together and before Michael, she thought he could be the one. For the first time in her life of being an assassin, Ziva wished for death. She wished the torture to end so she could reunite with her mother and Tali and tell Ari that she is sorry. Ziva's father had sent her on a suicide mission that he knew was unlikely that she would return from it. She knew that they had a rough location of Saleem's camp but they wouldn't do a rescue mission. They would automatically assume that she was dead. And she wished she was. She heard the door open and she started to have a panic attack. _

"Ziva! Ziva, wake up!" There was a concerned looking Gibbs and a scared looking Tony stretched over her bed. "You were screaming and crying!" Tony said, he looked like he hadn't ever seen Ziva like that, which he hadn't. It was a scary scene. Ziva was still panting, tears streaking down her face. She tried to compose herself by breathing and mentally telling herself that she was ok, that she was safe. She couldn't do it; she knew she was safe, that Saleem was dead and could no longer hurt her. She lost her calm and burst into tears. Gibbs and Tony didn't know what to do. Tony called for a doctor whilst Gibbs started hugging Ziva and whispering calming things into her ear. Although the crying initially got worse, over time Gibbs managed to calm her down enough so she could talk.

"Ziver. It's ok, you're safe with me and Tony. We're not going to hurt you. Can you tell me why you're so scared?"

"Bad dream. Back there." Ziva gulped out and Gibbs automatically responded. He hugged her tighter and started playing with strands of her hair to calm her down further. The doctors that Tony called saw that Gibbs had it under control. All of the doctors left, chattering and one person stayed behind.

"Hello. My name is Rose. Um, can I ask you what happened?"

"She just had a bad dream doc. She'll be fine now."

"I'm actually not a doctor. I'm going to be Ziva's radiographer and sonographer from now on."

"What happened to the other one?" Tony asked her with a concerned look.

"I asked for this job. I noticed that Ziva doesn't take well to men, well except you guys of course. I thought that we could help her along her road to recovery by understanding her wishes, even if she doesn't ask for them." Tony and Gibbs nodded. "Is it alright if I ask Ziva some questions?" Rose asked Tony and Gibbs and they in turn looked at Ziva, who simply nodded.

"Ok, Ziva. If any of these questions are too uncomfortable for you to answer, say so. I don't want to hurt you more. I'm simply trying to understand you so we can in turn make your road to recovery happy and easier. Is that ok with you?"

Ziva sat up and Gibbs stood back. "You want to ask me about my dream?" she asked the lady, she liked her but that could easily change.

"Yes and no. I minored in Psychology and I think I can help you. Is it ok if I ask you some of these questions, they may be uncomfortable? You don't have to answer the ones you don't want to."

"Ok." Ziva understood that this woman just wanted to help her.

"Have you been through a trauma that involved men?"

"Yes."

"Do you not trust men or are you scared of them?"

"Both."

"What about Tony and Gibbs. You seem comfortable with them." This was the first question that she needed an actual answer from, not a yes or a no.

"They are my family. I love them and I know that they will not hurt me."

She smiled, "Are you more comfortable around women?"

"They haven't hurt me, but I like people more that talk to me and try to understand me."

"I know this must be difficult for you. You seem like the kind of person that wouldn't talk about this. Am I right?" Ziva nodded. "Ok, can you tell me what happened when you were crying after your dream?"

"I was crying but I was breathing and telling myself that I was ok. It didn't work this time."

"This time? I'll have to talk with a psychologist about this but I think you have panic attacks. Have you been diagnosed with PTSD?"

"I had a mandatory psychological evaluation. I didn't talk about that though, I was never diagnosed."

"I think you do have PTSD and from what I'm hearing, I'm not surprised. I think you need to have what we call talk therapy. Do you have a close female friend that was there when you went through this?"

"Yes. Abby."

"Would she be able to handle some of the details of your trauma?"

Ziva looked from Tony to Gibbs, all three of them weren't sure.

"Ok, I can see you're not too sure. How about Abby and you talk and I'll be in the room to take over if she can't handle the details. This isn't talking about what happened, although you can talk about that, it's more about how you felt when this was going on."

"That sounds good. Can we do it today? She's coming in later." Rose was glad that Ziva wanted to start straight away.

"Sure. Ziva, I want to get to know you so you're less scared or awkward about talking in front of me. This will take time and if you want me to step out of the room this afternoon, just tell me so. I promise I will be my utmost best for you during your recovery. I am sorry about what happened to bring you here and the reason for your panic attacks."

"Thanks doc. You're one of the good ones." Gibbs said to Rose smiling and Ziva nodded.

"You're already a really nice person to me, I somehow feel safe around you."

"That's really good. Oh, Ziva, what country where you born in? You have a different accent."

"Israel."

"It's hard being home from your country, I'm recently finding out."

"Oh. You're not from America, you could have fooled me! Where are you from?" Gibbs asked with an actual interest.

"Australia. I'm working at Bethesda for a year to show that we need an equivalent in Australia."

"Good luck in the Olympics." Tony said grinning. Rose laughed.

"You too Italy and of course America." Just then Rose started beeping, she took a small device which was obviously her pager and looked at it. "I'm sorry guys, I have to go. There's an emergency. Page me when your friend comes in and we'll start this afternoon." Ziva looked at her with a worried look on her face. "You'll be absolutely fine. We'll take this slow." And with that she left the room with a smile on her face.

"The Henry's have been arrested."

"They got caught."

"They shot an agent; they left us this." The first man indicated a thick envelope. He opened it and poured its contents on the table. Inside was a note and lots of pictures.

"Finish her for us, continue our legacy." The second man read the not out aloud and the two men smiled at each other as they looked down at the bundle of pictures all focusing on one person with dark brown curls and darker eyes with a star of David around her neck; Ziva.


End file.
